Three Weeks After the Storm
It's amazing, Kaitlyn, how three weeks after a major US city was totally flooded how much recovery has taken place.
Not long ago 80% of the city was under water. The Army Corps of Engineers and some enterprising government contractors have managed to not only fix the break in the levee but to pump out the water until on this day of our Lord, 9/20/05, half of it has been pumped away!
God Bless America.
In addition, the death toll in New Orleans had been estimated at around 10,000. So far, the death toll for all of the Gulf coast is less than 1,000.
President Bush is taking a beating over this storm, both for his alleged slowness in reacting to the storm and for his handling of the war in Iraq.
Opinion polls in a non-election year mean pretty much nothing. It's so easy to respond to a telephone poller with a negative comment when one's precious vote is not in play. Indeed your Grandmother would probably give Bush a bit of a negative vote in that I think the man is one lousy communicator, he has an attitude of not sharing with the American people, he does a terrible job of making his agenda clear. He consistently refuses to defend himself from the vacuous attacks of the opposing party so much that the party base is demoralized and tired of carrying the man's water for him.
Were this an election year, with the Hildebeeste running against him as one scenario, I would likely give Bush a very robust positive rating.
Nonetheless there does seem a drop in the polls and Bush really, really needs to infuse some new life into his presidency.
The pundits slay me.
They're all out there, lying, lousy and lackadaisical, going on about racism, being poor, the deficit, yada, yada, without a clue one how the American people really feel.
We have eyeballs, Kaitlyn. We saw the Coast Guard rescuing people from roof tops with no mind to the person's race, color or creed. Indeed the evacuees from New Orleans have had a chance to look at the world anew what with Texas welcoming the evacuees with open arms. Those people know their local corrupt politicians failed them, allowing school buses to be destroyed rather than use them to take them out of that cesspool ran by Democrats for decades.
I think that somehow, someway, this horrible storm is change the dynamics of so much of America's political landscape. Americans really want the Gulf Coast to be rebuilt never mind the pundits who wax on like idiots about all the problems they will have in doing so. Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago and Galveston are all cities that suffered horrible natural disasters and came back better and stronger.
How much history do these elite know-nothings have to ignore before they are seen for what they are? Which is people who want to have camera time and will say anything to get some.
It's not over, Kaitlyn. Somehow this whole operation has to be undertaken and what with tons of money being thrown at the problem there will sure be mishandling of it. The Bush bashers will have a ball for a while.
I'll be watching and documenting it all, Kaitlyn.
For you. Lest the lazy and inept education system in this country manage to change history.
Below some snippets and updates on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
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Amtrak Leaves Flooded New Orleans EMPTY!
Even though offers were made to the ham-fisted local officials who spent the immediate aftermath of this hurricane with their head firmly up their behinds.
From the Washington Post:
In fact, while the last regularly scheduled train out of town had left a few hours earlier, Amtrak had decided to run a "dead-head" train that evening to move equipment out of the city. It was headed for high ground in Macomb, Miss., and it had room for several hundred passengers. "We offered the city the opportunity to take evacuees out of harm's way," said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. "The city declined."
So the ghost train left New Orleans at 8:30 p.m., with no passengers on board.
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In Case the Teachers' Unions Tell you Different
Don't believe that they didn't know about the levee break in Louisiana for over 24 hours after the hurricane's landfall, Kaitlyn. The Mayor of New Orleans knew with two hours after the hurricane hit land.
Just in case the mighty lazy teachers' unions teach history as their Democratic benefactors want and tell you the levee breaks weren't known until much later.
From the Washington Post:
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana around 6 a.m. Central time, and within an hour, New Orleans Mayor Nagin was hearing reports of water breaking through his city's levees. At 8:14 a.m., the National Weather Service reported a levee breach along the Industrial Canal, and warned that the Ninth Ward was likely to experience extremely severe flooding. A protective floodwall along Lake Pontchartrain had given way as well, which meant that billions of gallons of water were draining into the city.
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FEMA Bureaucratic Bumbling
Indeed the Federal Emergency Management Agency did screw up, Kaitlyn, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans. If your bogus history books should mention this be advised that bureaucrats will be bureaucrats.
No way can a bureaucracy react with swiftness of purpose and efficiency of deed.
They are not designed that way or are the people who populate a bureaucracy of a mind to think outside the box.
But on Thursday, after FEMA took over the evacuation, aviation director Roy A. Williams complained that "we are packed with evacuees and the planes are not being loaded and there are gaps of two or three hours when no planes are arriving." Eventually, he started fielding "calls from airlines saying, 'Well, we are being told by FEMA that you don't need any planes.' And of course we need planes. I had thousands of people on the concourses."
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Louisiana Delays in Signing State Reciprocal Medical Licensing
During certain emergencies states can agree to accept the medical licensing of other states. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina would have been just such an emergency.
Except, for whatever inept reason, officials in Louisiana didn’t sign that reciprocal licensing so doctors could not work in the state. Though they were already there the medical people could not do a damn thing.
BrendanLoy:
In Louisiana, it took several days for the governor to issue such a proclamation. Meanwhile, doctors from all over the country just sat around in New Orleans, unable to do anything.
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The Hell With the Victims, Attend This Sexual Harassment Course
Again, Kaitlyn, the bureaucrats couldn’t see beyond the next rule and piece of paper. For when firefighters from other states came to Louisiana to help, FEMA told them they had to attend a sexual harassment course.
Quelle Stupide.
From Realclearpolitics.com:
A team of Indiana firefighters, volunteering to help rescue victims of Katrina, went to Atlanta, where Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers told them that their job was to hand out fliers and that their first task was to attend a multi-hour course on sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity.
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Nepotism in the Bayou State
Below is a quote from a commenter on the Blog. The comments points out the incestuous relationship of the politicos in Louisiana.
Hey, it’s all the family, hey?
Mary Landrieu has gone stark raving mad. It's funny, though, how seldom these MSM interviewers ask her about the fact that her brother is the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. Plus, of course, her father was the Mayor of New Orleans. Can anyone say "corrupt oligarchy"? Another time, that would be a topic of interest to the MSM, but not now, when they are hunting bigger game.
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First Katrina/Kaitlyn post-the Beginning-9/6/05
9/7/05-H urricane Folklore/Wisdom and Nastiness
9/12/05-Hillary's "Katrina Kommission" and the Debacle of the Debit cards
9/14/05-FEMA Email; Dumb, blond Louisiana Senators
9/15/05-Ophelia and Grandmother
9/16/05-Katrina and the Helpless Pets
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